john cross

JOHN CROSS was raised in Southern California in a family of musicians and began playing trumpet at the age of ten. Throughout high school, John received many awards including a music scholarship from Festival of the Arts in Laguna Beach, CA. He then attended California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), where he earned both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Music. While an undergraduate at CSULB, John received the Tom Talbert Jazz Scholarship and was accepted into Pi Kappa Lambda, a music honor society. As a graduate student at CSULB, John was a finalist in the Coleman Chamber Music Competition with the Bob Cole Conservatory Brass Quintet.

John holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, where he was also a teaching assistant. He has performed with the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Long Beach Symphony, Pacific Chorale, Rio Hondo Symphony, Patriot Brass Ensemble and the Orange County Millennial Choirs and Orchestras, among others. In addition to Young Musicians Foundation, John is a Teaching Artist with the Bergmann Project in Santa Monica. He has also taught privately and coached chamber music at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, and was on the faculty of the Mason Gross Extension Division. John has been fortunate to study with many great teachers including David Krauss, Christopher Still, Rob Frear, David Washburn and Charles Davis. This has made John a well-rounded trumpet player and private teacher, as he has been exposed to many different approaches to the instrument.